01 July 2011

Back in March I commented on the opening of a new nursery school in Alcala, with places for 120 children. This has become the subject of the first public clash of swords between the former and current Mayors - and I suspect it won't be the last.

According to a press release on Wednesday, the nursery has had to be closed because it was in too dangerous a condition. The new administration claims that it was opened before getting its official licence for first occupation, and hadn't been finished off properly; the air conditioning wasn't working, the kitchen wasn't finished, and most significantly, an electrical cable was suspended in the air and not buried underground, as required by a technical report that was discovered in the Town Hall on 7 June.

This has given the new regime a splendid opportunity to write to all the parents of the children informing them of the shortcomings of the old one.

It is claimed that the former Mayor, Arsénio Cordero, opened the nursery on 28 March, with cynical disregard for the safety of the children and employees, in order to to give publicity to his party, the PSOE. (This was apparently the last date on which public works could be opened before the start of the electoral campaign.)

The PSOE have of course denied all the accusations. They claim that nursery building was perfectly legal when it was opened, and met the technical requirements of the construction project (which did not include air conditoning or a kitchen). The reason the cable had not been buried was because 6 metres of it would run through a cañada [canyon], which for environmental reasons requires a period of public consultation before permission can be granted by the Provincial Delegation. This period expires on 10 July and the work can be completed on 11 July.

I am really trying to be objective here. Although I support the PSOE locally, I am perfectly willing to accept that they might be guilty of all sorts of misdemeanours. But if there were any doubts at all about safety in a nursery school, of all places, why would they risk some dreadful accident in the in the period leading up to the election? The new nursery is a great improvement on the old one, with much more space and better facilities. Given that no other school in Alcalá has air-conditioning either, why is it a problem that it isn't working yet?

And looking at the state of the electrical wiring in the streets of Alcalá, is one more overhead cable that much of a threat? Is the new regime going to put all of these underground too? That would be nice ... and would keep our local builders and electricians in work for decades!